So I asked a couple of my loyal readers what they were curious about. What they said surprised me at first but when I sat back and thought about it, what they were curious about made sense, especially in this day and age.
They were interested in Green Investing aka Socially responsible investing. This is investing in the stocks and bonds of environmentally committed companies. Generally, socially responsible investors favor companies with practices in line with environmentalism, consumer protection, quality, and diversity. These investors also avoid businesses involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, weapons, the military industry, and abortion. Many green companies make positive, innovative contributions to the environment. They do so by:
- using recycled products to manufacture goods
- cutting down on environmentally harmful by-products
- demonstrating a commitment to preserving and enhancing the environment, as evidenced by the products they make and the services they provide.
- maintaining clean environmental records and openly disclosing their policies and performance on environmental criteria
- making positive contributions toward actively promoting a healthier environment
- producing renewable energy products or products that try to help cure existing environmental problems
- responding positively to shareholder advocacy on environmental issues
Many companies are starting to or already involved in 'going green'. If you think that you want to invest in companies that are putting these practices into effect, do some research on them and figure out which have the best growth prospects. Some popular plays in the recent months have been the solar stocks and other alternative energy picks. People are really looking to the future and feel that alternative energy is a necessity since oil is topping $120/barrel.
There are also mutual funds and ETFs that only invest in socially responsible companies. Two of these are GEX and PBW.
If you are having a hard time identifying green companies or are just plain lazy, here is a website that has an extensive list of these companies and breaks them down by industry. http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/progressiveinvestor.stocks.
Check it out and do your due diligence before making any decisions.
1 comment:
Guru,
I came from Covers.com to give you a suggestion on how to drive traffic. Post on www.ibankcoin.com. if you haven't visited the site, go now and spend an hour. then join the "Peanut Gallery" aka "PG" and make a post. by posting in the peanut gallery, you will get THOUSANDS of views daily. Each month, they crown a King of the PG and give their own blog to the winner for a month with revenue sharing. Sometimes the winners are awarded a full time blog there. It is a great community, and in the meantime, while you post on the Peanut Gallery, you can link to this blog and drive better traffic.
Get to know other financial bloggers via commenting on their sites. Blogging is all about driving traffic. keep it up, you look like you are doing well so far.
I held a blog at www.ibankcoin.com for a few months and it was great. i gave it up because it was interfering with my job, but i enjoyed it, made some small dollars via ad revenue, and made TONS of dollars via stock picks by other bloggers on the site and other commenters on the site.
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